Poultry feed and water trough



O. H. GREENE POULTRY FEED AND WATER THOUGH March 11, 1930.

Filed Feb. 4, 1928 INVENTOR O H Greene BY Q ,ibm

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE POULTRY FEEDAND WATER TROUGH Application filed February 4, 1928. Serial no. 251,859.

This invention relates to a feed or Water trough for poultry; myprincipal objects being to provide a trough of this character soconstructed that it may be easily adjusted to meet the requirements ofday old chicks or full grown hens, so that the fowls of respective sizeswill feed naturally at all times; one which is so arranged that babychicks cannot fall into the water in the trough and drown, regardless ofthe position in which the trough may be set; which is so constructed asto prevent the poultry stepping in the trough and scattering the feedwithout pre venting their free and unobstructed feeding; one which issanitary and vermin proof. and easily washed; one of a light, readilyportable and compact nature so that it is easily handled and will occupylittle space in a pen or brooder house; and one which is equallyadaptable for water or for feeds of various kinds.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensivedevice and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposefor which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective viewof my improved trough shown in its positionfor the use of full grown poultry.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the trough at one end.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the trough shown as set in position for theuse of baby chicks.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the body of the trough is preferably of metal such asgalvanized sheet iron and comprises a relatively long side and bottommember 1 of rounded or circular cross section and ri id end walls 2. Thesides do not form a fiill circle but are cut away to form an opening 3along the full length of the trough, said opening being above thehorizontal diametral plane of the trough and being of a width trough.

considerably less than the diameter of the The troug'h is adjustablysupported on a pair of brackets or cradles which comprise horizontal andtransversely extending ground engaging members 4 and upstanding springarms 5 which are curved to conform to the curvature of the sides of thetrough and 'fricti'onally engage the same on opposite sides. Extendingthe full length of the trough on a level with the opening 3, aretransversely spaced and closely wound helical tension springs 6 ofconsiderable flexibility. At their ends the springs are adapted to short"rod or wire stems 7 which at their outer ends are provided with rigidloops 8. The end members 2 of the trough have transversely spacedvertical slots 9 cut down from the top H a certain distance, which slotsremovably re ceive the stems 7 therein. The loops 8 are then outwardlyof the trough and serve not only asstops to cause the springs to bemaintained under a certain tension, but also as finger engaging elementsto enable the springs to be readily placed in or removed from position.The slots are so disposed that the springs will be parallel to eachother and to the side edges of the trough opening and the spacingbetween the respective springs 30 and the adjacent side edges of saidopening substantially the same.

In operation the trough is adjusted, in the brackets so that for fullgrown hens the opening 3 is horizontally disposed as shown in Fig. 1,while for baby chicks it is set at an angle so that one side edge of theopening is correspondingly lowered to whatever extent is necessary. Inthe first position the full capacity of the trough is available for $0feed or water, as is necessary to take care of the relatively greatconsuming capacity of full grown hens; while in the second position thecapacity of the trough is lessened and it cannot possibly hold enoughwater to drown small chicks even if they could step into the trough.Also as will be evident, one side of the trough is lowered so that theopening from which the chicks take their feed is in a 1'00 convenientposition for the natural feeding of the small chicks.

The springs form a sort of grating over the opening preventing eithersmall chicks or full grown hens from actually stepping into the troughwhile not interfering with their free feeding or drinking, since thesprings will readily flex or yield laterally whenever they are engagedby the head of the fowl. The springs being readily removable from thetrough permit of easy and thorough cleaning of the latter whennecessary. The trough may of course be made in difierent sizes, both asto length and diameter, so as p v to alter the capacity according todifferent requirements and size of flocks.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, stillin practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, asdefined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is: V

1. A poultry feed device comprising a trough member having alongitudinal opening, and a helical tension spring extending lengthwisealong the opening from end to end thereof and disposed in. transverselyspaced and parallel relation to the side edges of the opening. 7 V 2. Apoultry feed device comprising a trough, member having a longitudinalopening, and helical tension springs extending lengthwise of andcontinuously along the opening and disposed in transversely spaced andparallel relation to each other and to the side edges of the opening,stems attached to the ends of the springs, and enlargements on theouterends of the stems; the ends of the trough having vertical slots cut downfrom the top thereof to removably receive the stems therein.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. OSCAR H. GREENE.

